The trip to the Isla de San Jorge aka the Californian Sea Lion island

 

So, this trip was really fun we went to the Isla de San Jorge which is a protected Californian Sea lion breeding ground. One iconic thing about the island is that it is a bright white color as seen in the background of the photo, which is due to the birds that also use this island and over the years the amount of bird caca has made the island white. While we were there, we documented how many sea lions were on the island and we were in separate groups that looked for different sea lions like pups, adult females and males and as well juvenile males. My group was in charge of documenting adult males and from what we saw there was about 47 adult males on the island. The easiest way to identify the adult males was with their massive bodies, caveman-like forehead and they were typically barking. It became really easy to look for them because we would hear them and be on the lookout for the males. Afterwards we even went snorkeling and we got to get somewhat close to the island, unfortunately we could not get to close due to the fact that the males are very territorial and would basically warn you if you came to close to the island by swimming up to you and scaring you. It was really fun and interesting to see a breeding ground for the sea lions, because we do not get to see that in Arizona and typically the general public do not get to see that as well. It was also very fun to be a part of the documentation of the island even if they do not use the information, we collected it was still a very memorable experience to be a part of.  

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